February 12th 2020
Enormous fun was had by all on the evening of Saturday 8 February as The Green Charity Evening raised a substantial sum of money towards the Turi Children's Project (TCP). Two hours of entertainment featured solo and group musical items, comedy, drama and dance, before a large audience in the BSR. After an impassioned talk about the charity's work, an auction raised further awareness and money. Housemaster of The Green and avid supporter of the TCP gives a wonderful account of the evening:
"It may well be that, when they look back with degrees of fondness on their years in The Green, this generation will recall eagerly the Charity Evening held in school in the BSR. For it was on that evening that seventy-six boys worked together for a common goal, helping, cajoling and enthusing each other to produce a wonderfully entertaining and positive experience for themselves and others.
If they could put in the hours, the boys were reassured, their parents would contribute the money and dozens of the children in greatest need could be helped. There were to be two main rewards: financial support for those who need it most; and a group energy which would ensure a common experience of working hard for the benefit of others. All profit was to be sent to the Turi Children’s Project, a charity set up in the Kenyan village where Mr Byrne used to teach. TCP is not a school and nor is it an orphanage. It is a place where children can go, generally after school and where they can learn extra skills, in a community where 25% of the population is HIV positive. The aim is that an impoverished child in Turi will have his or her school enrolment fee paid, will go to school every day, return to TCP for food, safety, security and friendship and then go home to sleep.
Perhaps the star of the show was Max Dowling, who held together an eclectic mix of the most unlikely dancers for a truly memorable Britney Spears act, achieved through intense rehearsing. Amidst the electric guitars and the silky keyboard-playing, we were reminded how a relatively small donation can help those who most require our help. We were shown, amongst others, pictures of a couple of deaf children, Serah Njehi and John Okasa, who are relying on our help to attend a specialist school, three siblings, Jane, Hannah and Lawrence Mwangi, who will benefit from our response and will have one meal a day, and the football-mad teenage boy Peter Ondukois who would simply love to graduate from school and needs financial help to do so. The response was astonishing: over £7,000 at first count, with the total still rising.
One additional surprise on a remarkable evening was the performance, in all likelihood a world première, of Denis Eagar’s “War Hymn”. The composer and his elder brother had both been boys in The Green and had both been chosen in turn as Head of House. Frank had left school for the theatre of war in 1915 and was killed; Denis wrote a poignant hymn about the meaninglessness of war and the urgency of peace, was selected as Head of House and was killed by a sniper’s bullet at Wytshaete Wood in 1918. The simple harmonies and haunting resonance of “War Hymn”, sung by the House choir, carefully and lovingly assembled by Nathanael Fagerson, was the final item of a powerful first half.
Whether it is worth the effort became abundantly clear, as the boys enjoyed a mountain of pizza late that Saturday night: they had benefitted so immensely and so immeasurably on so many different levels; and the true beneficiaries were to be found just south of the Equator."
Stephen Byrne, Housemaster of The Green
Flickr album: The Green Charity Evening | Height: auto | Theme: Default
